Empowered
by CandleheadLover547
Summary: A long banished evil is stirring within Sugar Rush. It is so powerful that even Vanellope cannot stop it. The task falls onto the shoulders of four racers previously teased and belittled by the others. Rated T just in case. Vanillabutter, Jack 'O Lantern, and Swizzle/Sticky(don't know what that SHIP is called) pairings.
1. Chapter 1

In Sugar Rush, a long-forgotten evil was awakening. Everyone had a backstory that included him, his crimes, and his superior racing skills. He knew that his imprisonment was wrong. Vanellope and Taffyta had simply been jealous, and had wished to get rid of their greatest rival. He could take them all out. All the racers. Most of them wouldn't be able to put up much of a fight. But that one... that one racer. She could unravel the entire plan if she found the Power Orb. She or the other one, actually. Or those other two... But if he could get any of their powers... he would have enough energy to travel to the real world and take it for himself. The others wouldn't stand a chance. But first, to get out of here...

_..._

_One week later..._

Adorabeezle gritted her teeth. She moved her king a square to the right.

Candlehead quickly retaliated. She moved her queen a square down, "Checkmate."

Adorabeezle sighed as she put the pieces back in the box. She could beat everyone at every game, but, somehow, she just couldn't beat Candlehead at chess. She shook her hand, "Good game."

Candlehead smiled, "Good game."

...

Candlehead watched Adorabeezle leave. She loved chess, and could beat pretty much anyone in the arcade (Sergeant Calhoun was someone she couldn't beat. Oh well, Candlehead supposed she did strategize for a living) and since the RRR had been in an hour, she had played chess with Adorabeezle, the smartest racer in the game. The race would start in five minutes, actually, she needed to get to the racetrack.

...

Sticky Wipplesnit revved her engine. She wanted to win, to get noticed. When was the last time she'd been on the roster? Two weeks? Three? A month? She had lost count of the days. But not this time. She wanted to just be on the roster. Jubileena, another racer who hadn't been on the roster in a while, had made an alliance with her. They would work together during the race, and they would both try as hard as they could to rise through the ranks.

Jubileena pulled her kart in beside Sticky's and gave her a thumbs up, which Sticky returned with a smile. The marshmallow dropped down from above and counted down, "3-2-1! GO!"

...

Jubileena raced alongside Sticky. They had had a pretty bad start, and Jubileena was in twelfth, with Sticky in thirteenth. Jubileena hit a power up and received Sweet Seekers. She took aim and hit Gloyd, Snowanna, and Minty, Sticky's sister. Jubileena would be on the roster if she stayed where she was, but Sticky wanted to be as well, and Jubileena wasn't going to hold her back. Adorabeezle was just in front of her. Jubileena crept up by her rear bumper, and slammed the Cherriot into the Ice Rocket as hard as she could.

Adorabeezle spun out immediately and Jubileena and Sticky raced by her. Sticky and Jubileena brought their karts close together and gave each other a high five. They then chased after Swizzle, whose daring moves had brought him into seventh, right ahead of the two.

...

Jubileena rounded the last turn and streaked towards the finish line. Fourth and fifth, with Sticky's surprise attack on Rancis. They were going to be on the roster, both of them. Their alliance had succeeded.

Jubileena was heading down the final straightaway when she saw him. Someone who she though, and hoped, she would never see again. Jubileena cried out in surprise, and her kart spun out. She slammed into one of the stands, and it crumpled around her.

Jubileena felt something snap inside her chest, and her ankle twisted and broke. She let out a scream of pain. She heard Citrusella and Sticky cry out in alarm. Jubileena slumped back in her seat. A piece of the stand was pressed against her chest so hard she could barely breath. Her ankle and her chest burned like they were on fire. She could feel blood trickling from numerous scratches and cuts. She felt herself flicker and regenerate, but nothing changed. She was still hurt. At this point, Jubileena couldn't even summon the energy to find this odd.

Jubileena heard the sound of shifting timbers. She couldn't see him, but she could guess it was Ralph. She felt him scoop her up, could hear him say something, but she couldn't make out the words. She flickered again as she died and regenerated yet again, but still nothing happened. Her injuries were just the same as before. She heard the crowd murmur in surprise. Characters had been injured worse than this and they always regenerated without their injuries. She felt herself being laid on something soft, and then everything faded to black.

...

"I don't understand it," the doctor murmured, "Why won't her injuries heal?"

Adorabeezle brushed some of Jubileena's hair out of her face, "I don't know," she murmured quietly, "shouldn't her injuries have healed when she regenerated?"

"They should have, I don't know what's keeping them from healing. Vanellope's checked the code, nothing seems to be out of place. She isn't a complete master of code but that doesn't mean she wouldn't notice if something this major was going on.

On Adorabeezle's left side, Citrusella gave a small whimper. Sticky, on Citrusella's other side, put an arm around her. The recolors had always stuck together like glue, as Adorabeezle knew only too well... but now wasn't the time, she had to focus, "It would show up in Jubileena's code if her auto-heal was disabled," Adorabeezle said, "So it must be something else."

The racers were quiet for a minute, then Candlehead whispered, "I think I might have an idea."

Citrusella, at least, parked up at once, "What is it Candles?"

Candlehead looked at the ground, "Well, maybe, if it's nothing in Jubileena's code, then it could be something affecting the characters of Sugar Rush in general. I mean, even if it isn't, it can't hurt to check, right?"

Adorabeezle thought for a moment, and then nodded, "We'll tell Vanellope. She's the only one who knows the password to the code vault, besides Sour Bill."

...

The racers rushed over to the castle and banged on the door. Vanellope answered almost immediately, to the racers' surprise. Or maybe not, she had probably been expecting them.

Candlehead explained the idea that she'd had, with Vanellope listening, clearly intently. Finally, Vanellope nodded, "Follow me."

...

The racers approached the code vault cautiously. They didn't know what was going on in there, but whatever it was, they knew it was bad. They also knew that if a racer dies in the code room, they didn't regenerate.

Vanellope reached out to the door, "Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, start." she muttered. The door opened.

Vanellope instructed them to tie licorice ropes around their waists, and to follow her closely when they entered, and then handed them to Sour Bill, who was deceptively strong for his size. Then, she turned and leaped into the code, the others following.

Surprisingly, they met no resistance when they entered, and most of them relaxed. But Adorabeezle, Sticky, and Candlehead remained on high alert. Trouble was coming, they could tell.

The reached the main area, a densely packed ball of flashing blue. Adorabeezle could see that several wires had been disconnected. Vanellope frowned, concern etched across her face, "Adorabeezle, come with me. The rest of you, keep watch."

Adorabeezle and Vanellope looked at the main code. Candlehead was right. The auto-heal had been disconnected. Vanellope frowned and reached forward, reconnecting the wires.

As Vanellope connected the last wire, a long, low chuckle reverberated through the code room. As Adorabeezle looked around in confusion, she screamed. She had hoped never to see that face again.


	2. Chapter 2

A large, tattered, dark brown, hawk-like shadow swooped over their heads, dodging neatly through the wires, before soaring down to hover in front of them. His huge wings thundered around him. His feet hung beneath him, the talons gleaming in the blue light of the room. His yellow eyes stared haughtily at the two, "Well, well. You finally showed up."

Without warning, he lunged forward, snatching Adorabeezle in his grasp.

Vanellope cried out in surprise and glitched toward Adorabeezle, trying to help her. But Adorabeezle moved faster, somehow, despite not knowing what was going on.

The falcon laughed as he squeezed Adorabeezle between his talons. But before he did too much damage, he screamed in agony and dropped her. He was blown backwards through the code, feathers spiraling in all directions.

Adorabeezle gaped for a moment, stunned to what had just happened. She felt Vanellope tugging at her arm and spun around,"What?"

it came out harsher than she intended, and Vanellope flinched away. Was she, _scared _of her? The smallest racer, who had always been looked at as the little sister, but never much more, except a nerd who would sometimes lock herself in her lab for days at a time.

Vanellope shook her head, coming back to her senses, "We need to talk. But first, let's get out of here."

The racers swam through the room to the entrance. They could see the falcon-man sprawled on the floor. His eyes were open as he struggled to his feet, "This isn't over!" He snarled to Adorabeezle. Then he spread his wings and flew through the hallway.

"What was that?" Adorabeezle murmured

Vanellope shrugged, "I don't know, but I think you're not the only one who has powers. Just a feeling I have."

Adorabeezle nodded. Suddenly, she knew for certain, "Candlehead, Jubileena, and Sticky can do similar things, but with different elements. Jubileena has earth control, Candlehead has fire powers, and Sticky has water manipulation. We can all fly."

Vanellope stared at her, "How long have you known that?"

"Since about five seconds ago." Adorabeezle answered truthfully.

Vanellope sighed, "I think you"re telling the truth, but we don't know much about how your power works. We'll take this one step at a time. First off, I think we need to tell the others, if they don't know already."

"They don't" Adorabeezle replied with absolute certainty, "And Jubileena is awake."

Vanellope grinned, "Good. I think we'll need her for this."

...

Later, back at the hospital, Jubileena groaned and sat up, holding her head. Her injuries had healed. She barely had time to process this before a blur or dark blue flung her arms around her. Jubileena grunted, "Citrus?"

Citrusella drew back, her eyes shining with tears, "You scared me, Jubileena. I thought you were going to die."

Jubileena smiled, "It's all right now. Where's Vanellope?"

She tried to struggle to her feet, but Citrusella pushed her back down, "She fixed the game's code so you'd heal."

Jubileena's eyes widened, "She can't! It's a trap!"

Citrusella frowned, "Jubi, what are you talking about!?"

Jubileena tried to stand up again, "Thunder's back! He messed with the code and he caused the crash! He wants to destroy us!"

Citrusella shook her head, "It was a dream, Jubi. It didn't really happen."

With almost comical timing, Vanellope burst through the door, "It was a trap. Thunder has returned." Jubileena almost laughed at the look on Citrusella's face. Almost. But it was too terrifying to be funny.


End file.
